I feel better today, Serki thought as she stood on Shigure's porch, facing the sunrise, My wounds have almost healed...soon I will be well enough to fare for myself, maybe find a job under a different name, make some money and not live off of Sohma generosity. Get back out there and do what I do best, gather information. Maybe I can track down the morons who were hired to destroy the Sadnesan clan and get that much revenge for their deaths. Masao, Kazuo...
"Morning, you are up early Serki-san," Tohru called as she joined her, "You looked like you were thinking, everything well? If you ever want to talk, you know you can."
"I was just thinking that I feel much better today, Hatori-san is truly a excellent doctor, with any other and I would have still been laying on my back and how my brothers loved this time of day. Thats all Tohru-san," Serki replied as she gave a heavy sigh, "Do you need a hand with breakfast?" she asked.
"Please, Serki-san, call me Tohru or Tohru-kun. I'm happy you opened up to me a little, who were your brothers?" Tohru answered.
"Masao and Kazuo, the best brothers a soul coul ever hope to find..." Serki answered, "How about we go fix breakfast, shall we? The boys will be up soon."
"Oh, um, yes and thank you Serki-san, have you cooked before?" Tohru answered, slightly hurt by the sudden change in conversation but allowed it to pass, the shadows in Serki's eyes warned her not too push to far.
Serki smiled, "Go ahead and call me Serki-kun, if you want to be formal with someone like me, Tohru. Serki is fine too. I don't mind."
How like you, I once was. Happy, cheerful, lovable...a free soul. You aren't chained to anything as you should be. Mine's has been latched to a stone and sinking rapidly to the bottom of the sea. I'll never be free again.
"Wow, Serki! I never knew you could cook so well!" Tohru exclaimed in joy as they sat out the last of breakfast.
"I used to do alot of cooking back for my family, expecially Masao and Kazuo when we'd go training together. They were truly aweful cooks, its amazing that before me they even survived their own food. Those were happier times though..." Serki laughed as she lost herself in memory again.
"Ah, good morning, ladies!" Shigure called as he entered the dining room, miming that he was being lead by his nose towards them, "Such a meal, what's the feast for?"
"Its not a feast, its called breakfast, Shigure-san!" Tohru laughed as he seated himself at the table.
"Ah so it is, and Serki-san, its good you are up and about this early. How do you feel?" Shigure asked as he seated himself beside Tohru and Serki.
"Better than I was, soon I'll be fully healed, then I'll go look for a job, using another name of course." Serki replied, "I appreciate your generosity, but I am not a bum. I can't sit about like this the rest of my life, waiting for them to show up."
"No of course you can't, thats true, but how old are you, Serki-san?" Shigure replied.
"I'm sixteen, why do you ask?" Serki answered, stunned by his question.
"Then shouldn't you consider going back to school? The school in this area is free and several Sohmas go there, including Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo. Which speaking of, where are those two? Its a tragedy that they miss such a breakfast such as this." Shigure suggested.
"Kyo is still asleep, its going to rain today and Yuki's at his secret base." Tohru answered.
"I guess I hadn't thought of it, up till this point I had been trying to survive and I came to undestand just how much you can get to miss the simple things that make life liveable. Going back to school would be nice, but I cannot continue to be a burden upon the Sohmas, and I have my own agenda to take care of. I want to find those who killed my family and repay them for all they have done to me and my clan." Serki replied, her eyes turning dark as she stopped eating.
"Yes that it is true, but you are never a burden to me or the rest of the family for that matter. Thanks to you, the non-cursed members of the Sohma family are being quietly slipped out of Tokyo and sent to safer grounds, and while the cursed members of the family, plus Akito, will be the last ones to leave, we, if things go smoothly, will be safe. We know becuase of you and we plan on helping you. We don't plan on running forever and want them to stop at any and all costs. So, go back to school, stay here under my roof as long as you like, and all will be fine. I swear, you are doing what Tohru did when she first came here." Shigure answered.
"Then at least I have done some good for the Sohmas, it'll make up for the deadly sin of going for blood for what these men did to my life. I'll stay and go to school, so long as you don't mind. I really appreciate your kindness." Serki sighed in defeat, she couldn't argue with him and he was right.
"Still, I hope you don't plan on wearing what you were wearing the first night you came here to school, do you?" Shigure added turning off the subject.
"Umm, I don't have much of choice, do I? I've been borrowing Tohru's clothes the past couple days and I have very little money to go clothing shopping with actually..." Serki replied, blushing as she remembered the rather ratty pair of martial arts pants and shirt she had just recently washed upstairs. They were threadbare in embarrasing places.
"Well, you are in luck, the school uniforms are free, but you won't always be going to school, will you?" Tohru added as she lost herself in thought.
Shigure gave a small laugh, "Then I suppose we better call Ayame."
"But he only makes maid and nurse outfits, thats not normal clothing, Shigure!" Yuki growled as he walked into the dining room, "Want to make a spectacle of Serki or something?"
"Oh, phesh, like Ayame wouldn't mind designing some normal clothes, plus, once he sees the state of Serki-san's clothes, he'll agree to anything." Shigure laughed.
"I didn't think they were that aweful," Serki said meekly, keenly aware how two men, possibly three, had gotten involved in her wardrobe.
"I'll call." Shigure said simply.
Cold stares met her and she decided she'd let them make the call.
A/N: Okay, since the previous three chapters have been a bit dark and dramtic, I thought a nice touch of comedy would be nice. Please remember though, the action is going to start picking up pretty soon, I am just setting Serki in with the Sohmas and Tohru.
Please review, you know ya wanna!
SS17